If you're over 18 and a resident of the Bronx, the city of New York wants you to get tested for HIV — sooner rather than later. The borough's death rate from AIDS is nearly 10 times the national average, which health officials attribute to the fact that about 25% of its residents only learn they are infected after the disease has progressed to full-blown AIDS. In an ambitious plan announced at the end of June, the New York City Department of Health hopes to make HIV testing a basic part of routine medical care —as standard as mammograms, cholesterol screenings and setting broken arms. "Wherever you encounter the health care system, if you're offered the HIV test as part of the routine, then many more people are likely to do it," explains Dr. Monica Sweeney, the Dept. of Health's assistant commissioner for HIV prevention and control. But in the South Bronx, a blighted part of this borough just north of Manhattan, the initiative is encountering resistance from some of the very people who have devoted their careers to fighting the disease and comforting the afflicted. source

President George W. Bush, whose international program has given $15 billion to combat AIDS in poor countries, is ignoring the growing epidemic in U.S. blacks, an advocacy group says.

More than 500,000 U.S. blacks carry HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, according to the report today from the Black AIDS Institute, based in Los Angeles. Seven of 15 poor countries served by Bush's $15-billion international treatment and prevention program have fewer infected people, the group said.

Blacks account for about half of new HIV infections in the U.S. each year, even though they represent 13 percent of the population, government figures show. The virus has become the leading cause of death in black women ages 25 to 34 years, and the second-leading cause for men 35 to 44, said Phill Wilson, the institute's chief executive officer. While Bush requires that countries have a national AIDS plan to get funds for HIV treatment, the U.S. has no plan of its own, Wilson said.

``The lack of a comprehensive AIDS strategy is devastating,'' Wilson said in a telephone interview yesterday. ``We continue to work in this environment of `Alice in Wonderland' HIV prevention, where what is, isn't, and what isn't, is.'' source

July 30, 2008

It's funny how money change a situationMiscommunication leads to complicationMy emancipation don't fit your equationI was on the humble, you - on every stationSome wan' play young Lauryn like she dumbBut remember not a game new under the sunEverything you did has already been doneI know all the tricks from Bricks to KingstonMy ting done made your kingdom wan' runNow understand L. Boogie's non violentBut if a thing test me, run for mi gunCan't take a threat to mi newborn sonL's been this way since creationA groupie call, you fall from temptationNow you wanna bawl over separationTarnish my image in your conversationWho you gon' scrimmage, like you the championYou might win some but you just lost one

You might win some but you just lost oneYou might win some but you just lost oneYou might win some but you just lost oneYou might win some but you just lost one

Now, now how come your talk turn coldGained the whole world for the price of your soulTryin' to grab hold of what you can't controlNow you're all floss, what a sight to beholdWisdom is better than silver and goldI was hopeless now I'm on Hope roadEvery man want to act like he's exemptWhen him need to get down on his knees and repentCan't slick talk on the day of judgmentYour movement's similar to a serpentTried to play straight, how your whole style bent?Consequence is no coincidenceHypocrites always want to play innocentAlways want to take it to the full out extentAlways want to make it seem like good intentNever want to face it when it's time for punishmentI know that you don't wanna hear my opinionBut there come many paths and you must choose oneAnd if you don't change then the rain soon comeSee you might win some but you just lost one

You might win some but you just lost oneYou might win some but you just lost oneYou might win some but you just lost oneYou might win some but you just lost one

You might win some but you really lost oneYou just lost one, it's so silly how comeWhen it's all done did you really gain fromWhat you done done, it's so silly how comeYou just lost one

Now don't you understand man universal lawWhat you throw out comes back to you, starNever underestimate those who you scarCause karma, karma, karma comes back to you hardYou can't hold God's people back that longThe chain of Shatan wasn't made that strongTrying to pretend like your word is your bondBut until you do right, all you do will go wrongNow some might mistake this for just a simple songAnd some don't know what they have 'til it's goneNow even when you're gone you can still be rebornAnd, from the night can arrive the sweet dawnNow, some might listen and some might shunAnd some may think that they've reached perfectionIf you look closely you'll see what you've becomeCause you might win some but you just lost one

You might win some but you just lost oneYou might win some but you just lost oneYou might win some but you just lost oneYou might win some but you just lost one

You might win some but you really lost oneYou just lost one, it's so silly how comeWhen it's all done did you really gain fromWhat you done done, it so silly how come

US actor Danny Glover, who plans an epic next year on Haitian independence hero Toussaint-Louverture, said he slaved to raise funds for the movie because financiers complained there were no white heroes.

"Producers said 'It's a nice project, a great project... where are the white heroes?'" he told AFP during a stay in Paris this month for a seminar on film.

"I couldn't get the money here, I couldn't get the money in Britain. I went to everybody. You wouldn't believe the number of producers based in Europe, and in the States, that I went to," he said.

Danny Glover takes part in a ceremony in DakarAFP PHOTO

"The first question you get, is 'Is it a black film?' All of them agree, it's not going to do good in Europe, it's not going to do good in Japan.

"Toussaint," Glover's first project as film director, is about Francois Dominique Toussaint Louverture (1743-1803), a former slave and one of the fathers of Haiti's independence from France in 1804, making it the first black nation to throw off imperial rule and become a republic.

The uprising he led was bloodily put down in 1802 by 20,000 soldiers dispatched to the Caribbean by Napoleon Bonaparte, who then re-established slavery after its ban by the leaders of the French Revolution.

Due to be shot in Venezuela early next year, the film will star Don Cheadle, Mos Def, Wesley Snipes and Angela Bassett. source

Enough with the apologies give people back ownership to land and resources.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a resolution apologizing to African-Americans for slavery and the era of Jim Crow.

The nonbinding resolution, which passed on a voice vote, was introduced by Rep. Steve Cohen, a white lawmaker who represents a majority black district in Memphis, Tennessee.

While many states have apologized for slavery, it is the first time a branch of the federal government has done so, an aide to Cohen said.

In passing the resolution, the House also acknowledged the "injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow."

"Jim Crow," or Jim Crow laws, were state and local laws enacted mostly in the Southern and border states of the United States between the 1870s and 1965, when African-Americans were denied the right to vote and other civil liberties and were legally segregated from whites.

The name "Jim Crow" came from a character played by T.D. "Daddy" Rice who portrayed a slave while in blackface during the mid-1800s.

The resolution states that "the vestiges of Jim Crow continue to this day."

"African-Americans continue to suffer from the consequences of slavery and Jim Crow -- long after both systems were formally abolished -- through enormous damage and loss, both tangible and intangible, including the loss of human dignity and liberty, the frustration of careers and professional lives, and the long-term loss of income and opportunity," the resolution states.

The House also committed itself to stopping "the occurrence of human rights violations in the future." source

July 28, 2008

You and a guest will travel to land of steel pan courtesy of Scotiabank to celebrate Trinidad & Tobago’s 2009 carnival. The trip includes round-trip airfare, 3 nights accommodation, transportation and $500 in spending money! Sign up now for your chance to win.

July 27, 2008

July 26, 2008

My copy is in the mail and on it's way to Toronto, I had to call the fams in NYC to grab me a copy...

"Italian Vogue has taken the fashion and publishing world by storm by featuring all black models in its July issue. Historically, the conventional wisdom among “those who know” about circulation and newsstands in consumer publishing issues is that putting a black model or celebrity on the cover of a fashion magazine means that it “just won’t sell” well.

But after a couple of New York newsstand sell-outs, reports of frenzied, cross-town searches for $16 to $20 copies and the accompanying hype, Condé Nast has decided to reprint the issue — 10,000 copies emblazoned with the tagline “Most Wanted Issue Ever” and “First Reprint” banded across the front.” source

July 24, 2008

Recently, the American Medical Association, the largest and most powerful association of doctors, apologized for the way it had shut out black doctors and refused to share information or resources with them. What information? I don't know. But the directors of the AMA believe this exclusion by the white medical establishment was serious enough that the practice of medicine in America was weakened. ... source

"I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but I don’t believe in brotherhood with anybody who doesn’t want brotherhood with me. I believe in treating people right, but I’m not going to waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn’t know how to return the treatment."

July 23, 2008

Each segment will focus on the struggles and stereotypes of the black community and how its relates to two particular themes: The Black Woman and Family, and The Black Man. Tune in to watch frank and honest dialogue on the plights of our community and its impact on the nation.

Pam Grier has inked a deal with Grand Central Publishing to release an as-yet-untitled tell-all memoir.Currently scheduled for a spring 2010 release, the book will be released via the company's Springboard Press imprint. With a career that spans almost 50 films and various TV programs, Grier is a Blaxploitation icon, who immortalized the character 'Foxy Brown' during the 1970s. The Winston-Salem, North Carolina native currently stars in the hit Showtime Network series 'The L Word,' and at 59, she is still considered one of the sexiest woman in the world.

In her memoir, Grier will reflect on the battles and the triumphs of her life and career, including the men she's dated (Richard Pryor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Freddie Prinze to name a few), her co-stars (Robert DeNiro, Samuel L. Jackson and the late Tamara Dobson), and singing back-up for Bobby Womackand Sly and the Family Stone.

She'll also recount inside stories about her films as well as the persecution she experienced as an African-American woman trying to make it in Hollywood.

July 21, 2008

"I've never seen a sincere white man, not when it comes to helping black people. Usually things like this are done by white people to benefit themselves. The white man's primary interest is not to elevate the thinking of black people, or to waken black people, or white people either. The white man is interested in the black man only to the extent that the black man is of use to him. The white man's interest is to make money, to exploit."

Chinese police officials have forced some Beijing bar owners to sign secret pledges promising to prohibit blacks from entering their bars during the Olympics next month, a Hong Kong newspaper says.

The police denied the report yesterday, and most bars denied any knowledge of the pledges. But many African residents of Beijing say they are facing harassment from police and discrimination from bars as the Olympics approach.

"Bar owners near the Workers Stadium in central Beijing say they have been forced by Public Security Bureau officials to sign pledges agreeing not to let black people enter their premises," the South China Morning Post reported yesterday.

It quoted the co-owner of a bar who said that a group of police had recently visited his establishment to order it "not to serve black people or Mongolians." source

July 18, 2008

The follow-up to the action hit “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight” reunites director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale, who once again embodies the man behind the mask. “The Dark Knight” takes Batman across the world in his quest to fight a growing criminal threat. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman has been making headway against local crime…until a rising criminal mastermind known as The Joker (Heath Ledger) unleashes a fresh reign of chaos across Gotham City. To stop this devious new menace-Batman’s most personal and vicious enemy yet-he will have to use every high-tech weapon in his arsenal and confront everything he believes.click here for trailer nah!! go see the movie

When Disney announced it was casting its first black princess for its latest animation film, the African-American heroine was hailed as a positive role model for little girls and an ambitious marketing ploy, not to mention an attempt to ward off the allegations of racism that have lurked since the heyday of Walt Disney Productions in the 1940s and 1950s. continue reading

Josephine Baker, the gorgeous Black singer/dancer whose beauty mesmerized France and the rest of Europe during the 1920s and ’30s, is the latest African American to be memorialized on a U.S. postage stamp. Baker’s movie, “Princess Tam-Tam,” is among the five images on the stamps to honor vintage Black cinema. New Jersey, the home of a Black film festival, will hold ceremonies marking to commemorate the sale of the stamps. “I guess that if she was with us today she would be very honored. At her death she was a French citizen, but she never forgot she was born in America,” her son, Jean-Claude Baker, told The Associated Press in an interview. “She would be delighted and very moved.” In addition to her acclaimed singing and dancing, Josephine Baker earned military honors as an undercover agent for the French resistance in World War II. During the 1950s and ’60s, she was active in the Civil Rights Movement, even making an appearance with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the 1963 March on Washington. source

I won't be here to see the junior carnival parade, i'm going over the border on Saturday. But go check out the beautiful costumes and music and support the youth & children in the Junior Parade.Shoreham Drive - Yorkgate Mall

Saturday, July 19, 2008: 10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Junior Carnival provides festival-goers and the surrounding community the opportunity to experience the thrills and joys as young masqueraders participate in their early festival years.

July 17, 2008

Long known for his role as 'Spawn' in the live action film, which was based on the comic book character, Michael Jai White has taken various roles since then from 'Undisputed 2' to most recently, the blockbuster hit 'Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?'. While still actively involved in the Spawn franchise with his work in the animated series, White has also done voicework on Justice League and Static Shock. He will also be featured in another comic book film as he's set to play the role of Gamble in 'The Dark Knight', the sequel to 'Batman Begins'. continue reading

Kelly Rowland is the first ambassador for MTV's Staying Alive foundation.Several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have the worst rates of HIV / AIDS in the world, and the stigma associated with the disease often hinders the effort to fight it. Singer Kelly Rowland is doing her part to change that. Rowland visited Kenya and got tested for HIV. CNN's David McKenzie sat down exclusively with the singer as she explained her work for MTV's "Staying Alive Foundation".Click here to watch video

July 16, 2008

The effort entitled “Tattoo Heart” will feature Rihanna in an assortment of major ads wearing limited edition Gucci for Unicef pieces. “We decided to dedicate a full ad campaign, more than just creating products, to really come out and show our commitment to UNICEF, we wanted someone with a strong personality….I felt a musician and a beautiful woman was the perfect icon for this campaign.” Said Frida Giannini, Gucci’s Creative Director. The ads will begin appearing this December. source

A woman riding her bike in Daytona Beach Monday night was hit by car driven by a man targeting African Americans, police said.Police believe Nekedia Cato, a 25-year-old African American woman, was hit by Thomas Cosby, of Port Orange. Police said Cosby, 56, slammed into Cato, took out a nearby porch, hit a tree and then rolled three times."He just hit me because I was black," Cato said.Cato was riding her bike home from the store on South Atlantic Avenue."I actually saw him coming toward me. I tried to move my bike as fast as I [could], but it wasn’t quick enough. He came straight for me," Cato said.Police reported that after Cosby crashed, he got out of his car, screaming racist remarks. Cosby repeatedly used the N-word and shouted he wanted to kill black people, authorities said."He was screaming out he had to kill all black people because one slept with his wife," Cato said.Cato recently moved to the Daytona Beach area with her boyfriend, D."If he could target me just because of the color of my skin, he could target anybody else," Cato said. source

Synopsis: The Women is about friends and mothers and daughters. It's about breaking up and finding your way back. It's about reinventing yourself. It's about walking through fire for what you believe in. It's about Women.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was expected by diplomats to seek the arrest on Monday of the Sudanese president on charges of genocide in a five-year campaign of violence in the country's Darfur region.

But the ruling National Congress Party of Omar Hassan al-Bashir has warned of "more violence and blood" in the huge western region of Darfur if the president is charged, state TV reported.

Al-Bashir, who seized power in a 1989 coup, got a show of support Sunday as he arrived for an emergency meeting of his cabinet. source

July 12, 2008

If you are looking to be among the first people to 'The Secret Life of Bees', which stars Jennifer Hudson, Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Alicia Keys, and Sophie Okonedo, you will have to get a ticket at the Toronto Film Festival, where it will make its world premiere.

Also featured in the film are Tristan Wilds, Nate Parker, Paul Bettany, and Hilarie Burton.

The festival will run from September 4 through September 13. Also showing there will be Spike Lee's 'Miracle at St. Anna', and Guy Ritchie's 'RocknRolla' with Idris Elba and Thandie Newton.

Directed by Gina Prince Bythewood, the film is based on a 2002 bestselling novel by American author Sue Monk Kidd. source

This Chesapeake Bay city of idled crab processing plants and costly vacation homes has had a not-too-distant history of racial strife. But when Cambridge elected its first black mayor this week, residents said their worries about joblessness and the economy were foremost on their minds — not the race or gender of the winning candidate.

Decades after the demise of segregation, this sleepy city on Maryland's Eastern Shore has elected not only its first black mayor but also its first woman to the post. For Cambridge, the choice of Victoria Jackson-Stanley signaled just how much times have changed. source

The comments made by civil rights leader Jesse Jackson - uttered off-air before the start of an interview on Fox News - reveal a deep division that exists amongst black leaders who attempt to find solutions for resolving social problems within the African-American community.

Good common sense advice, one might think. However, it's advice that sits uncomfortably with some African Americans. There are those, particularly those who grew up in a segregated America and whose life experiences have been shaped by the fight for civil rights like Jesse Jackson, who believe that white American society is to blame for the problems facing black America: that institutional racism and structural inequalities are the root of the social ills that disproportionately and negatively affect African Americans. No doubt there is some truth to this: systematic inequalities within American society have had and still have a negative impact upon African American lives. continue reading

Usher and son are on the new cover of Essence Mag. Now these are the images I love to see.Usher sat down with actor and author Hill Harper to talk about the ups and downs of being married, the choices he's made, putting God first, and his ultimate purpose: being the best father he can be to his baby boy, Usher Raymond V.click here to read full interviewsource

July 8, 2008

The South African Reserve Bank says 5 million coins featuring a smiling Nelson Mandela will go into circulation on July 18, the former president's 90th birthday. The new five rand coin is South Africa's largest coin, worth about 65 U.S. cents. It shows Mandela in one of his signature patterned shirts and is the latest in a series of events honoring the anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner. source

The women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority really know how to get dolled up -- and focus on business.They'll show that this week when they hit Washington, D.C., about 35,000 strong, for their biennial convention and get a look at one of their newest members: Barbie.

Mattel Inc. created the limited-edition AKA Centennial Barbie, the first Barbie based on any sorority.The doll, outfitted in a pink and green evening gown, matching jeweled shoes and gold jewelry, honors the Chicago-headquartered sorority, the first established by black women . source